The documentary “At home, in Marienfield” was premiered at the Gaudeamus Movie Theater in Chisinau in the evening of May 12, within the Moldovan-German Culture Week, IPN reports.
The film is about two Bessarabian Germans Artur Schaible and Olga Schüppel, who returned to Marienfeld village of Cimislia district, where their families lived before the start of World War II.
The documentary is a co-production of Deutsche Welle and Moldova 1 TV channel. The project was supported by the Embassy of Germany in Chisinau. Moldova 1 producer Irina Craciun said the history of this village shows the history of the Bessarabian Germans. The film was directed by Irene Langemann, who is known in Germany and in other states and who won top prizes at a number of international documentary film contests.
“Though this is not a historical film, we followed the traces of the Bessarabian Germans according to our emotions. We filmed in a number of places in Marienfeld, which are connected with the film’s heroes,” said Irene Langemann. She added that the team of editors started all the researches from zero because they didn’t know who the Bessarabian Germans were and if some of them still live. The team managed to find protagonists and to show the new and old Marienfield.
During the premiere, German Ambassador in Chisinau Matthias Meyer said the viewers in Moldovan ultimately can get to know Germany by this film. “I’m glad that this evening we succeeded in showing how the Germans and Moldovans were in the daily life and how they communicated. I hope you understood the humor of some of the sequences of this film. If we want to see something interesting, we must go there where there are people, where they live and where they invite each other to their place,” he stated.
The father of one of the film’s heroes Artur Schaible wrote memories about the village and about the fate of the Germans who lived there. In the film, Artur plays the role of a teller of his father’s memories. “I was conceived in Moldova and for me it is very important to visit the native place of my parents. I often travel to Marienfeld and even erected there a monument to the Germans who lived in the village,” he stated.
The viewers approved of the documentary. “It’s different from the films I saw until now. Through it I found out that there is a special place in my country,” said viewer Oleg Chicu.
Moldova 1 director Mircea Surdu said the documentary will be shown on the public TV channel on May 17 at 22:15.
The event was attended by Vice President of the Bundestag Ulla Schmidt, Head of Parliament Igor Corman, Prime Minister Iurie Leanca, and representatives of the diplomatic corps.
